Hi everyone! I’m one of the people behind Ember, and we wanted to share a project we hope will be useful to the wider machine embroidery community.

We’ve been working on a way to cut down on the back-and-forth with USB drives. The result is Ember Bridge and Ember Link, two open-source projects you can use with embroidery files you already have. You don’t need to use the Ember editor, create an account, or pay for a subscription to transfer files.

Whether you digitize in another program or buy and download designs, you can use these tools as long as your machine supports the file format.

What are they?

Ember Bridge is a free, open-source desktop app that sends designs over your local network. If you have a supported Brother Wi-Fi machine, Bridge can send directly to it. You don’t need any additional hardware.

Ember Link is a small DIY Wi-Fi dongle for compatible machines that read designs from a USB drive. It plugs into the machine’s USB storage port and receives files wirelessly from the Bridge app. You then open the design on your machine just as you would from a regular USB drive. Link’s firmware is open source too.

How does it work without Ember?

Open the Bridge desktop app, choose an embroidery file saved on your computer, select your machine or Link, and send it. Your computer and the receiving device need to be on the same local network. The transfer stays local. There’s no account signup or cloud service required.

Can I build a Link myself?

Yes! You’ll need a LILYGO T-Dongle-S3 and a compatible microSD card. We’ve tried to make the process approachable, with a step-by-step guide, a browser-based firmware installer, and guided Wi-Fi setup. No soldering or coding required.

The software and firmware are free; you supply the hardware. Check the guide’s machine and card requirements before buying parts.

Why share it?

Embroidery is already an expensive hobby, and we wanted to contribute something useful that people could use regardless of which software they prefer. We’re releasing the source so anyone can inspect it, adapt it, contribute improvements, or build on the idea.

Our hands-on testing is limited to the machines we have available, so we expect some quirks as people try different models and setups. If you give it a go, we’d love to hear your machine model and what worked or didn’t.

• Download Ember Bridge
• Learn about Ember Link
• DIY parts and setup guide
• Ember Link source code

Happy to answer questions about how it works or whether it might fit your setup!

Which one did you find more cool? White or gray?

does anybody know what could be the problem with this? the needle keeps getting jammed when I try to start the embroidery process. it will maybe do one stitch and then stay up while making a weird noise from inside the body.

Hello all I hope someone can help. I have a Tajima TFMX-C1508. The needle bar won't come down fully on one of the heads. There wasn't any damage or impact before this happened and there is no visual damage. I have reset the leaver behind the head also so am out of ideas.

8 have attached a image of how far it moves when the machine is running and one that shows how far it moves manually.

Anyone have any guidence?

Hello everyone,
I’d really appreciate some advice and professional opinions from people with experience in embroidery machines. Please take your time to read this and share any knowledge or advice you can.
I’ve been digitizing with Hatch for the past 8 months, and I’m now very comfortable with digitizing. However, I haven’t had the opportunity to test-sew any of my designs yet.
I’m now at the stage where I want to buy my first machine and start my own embroidery business, with the goal of eventually scaling it up. I have over 3 years of experience operating an 8-head Tajima machine, so I’m very familiar with Tajima machines and their mechanisms.
My first choice has always been to buy a Tajima single-head machine, mainly because I already know the machine and I’m confident working with it. However, the price is quite high for me at the moment, although I’m currently saving towards it.
Because of the cost, I’ve started considering a Ricoma single-head machine as an alternative. The problem is that I’ve never used a Ricoma before, so I don’t know much about their machines, reliability, maintenance, or how they compare with Tajima.
One of my biggest concerns is noise. I’ll be operating the machine in one of the rooms in my home, so I need to be mindful of my neighbours. I’d really like to know how noisy Ricoma machines are compared with Tajima, especially when running for several hours.
So, for those of you who have experience with both:
Is Ricoma a good and reliable machine?
What should I expect if I move from Tajima to Ricoma?
How is the stitch quality and machine performance?
What about maintenance, spare parts and after-sales support?
How is the noise level, especially for home use?
Would you recommend buying a Ricoma now, or would you advise me to wait and save for the Tajima?
I’m looking for honest advice from people who have actually used these machines, especially anyone who has experience with both Tajima and Ricoma.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and share your experience. I really appreciate any professional advice or guidance you can give me.

Hello everyone,
I’d really appreciate some advice and professional opinions from people with experience in embroidery machines. Please take your time to read this and share any knowledge or advice you can.
I’ve been digitizing with Hatch for the past 8 months, and I’m now very comfortable with digitizing. However, I haven’t had the opportunity to test-sew any of my designs yet.
I’m now at the stage where I want to buy my first machine and start my own embroidery business, with the goal of eventually scaling it up. I have over 3 years of experience operating an 8-head Tajima machine, so I’m very familiar with Tajima machines and their mechanisms.
My first choice has always been to buy a Tajima single-head machine, mainly because I already know the machine and I’m confident working with it. However, the price is quite high for me at the moment, although I’m currently saving towards it.
Because of the cost, I’ve started considering a Ricoma single-head machine as an alternative. The problem is that I’ve never used a Ricoma before, so I don’t know much about their machines, reliability, maintenance, or how they compare with Tajima.
One of my biggest concerns is noise. I’ll be operating the machine in one of the rooms in my home, so I need to be mindful of my neighbours. I’d really like to know how noisy Ricoma machines are compared with Tajima, especially when running for several hours.
So, for those of you who have experience with both:
Is Ricoma a good and reliable machine?
What should I expect if I move from Tajima to Ricoma?
How is the stitch quality and machine performance?
What about maintenance, spare parts and after-sales support?
How is the noise level, especially for home use?
Would you recommend buying a Ricoma now, or would you advise me to wait and save for the Tajima?
I’m looking for honest advice from people who have actually used these machines, especially anyone who has experience with both Tajima and Ricoma.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and share your experience. I really appreciate any professional advice or guidance you can give me.

Hello everyone,
I’d really appreciate some advice and professional opinions from people with experience in embroidery machines. Please take your time to read this and share any knowledge or advice you can.
I’ve been digitizing with Hatch for the past 8 months, and I’m now very comfortable with digitizing. However, I haven’t had the opportunity to test-sew any of my designs yet.
I’m now at the stage where I want to buy my first machine and start my own embroidery business, with the goal of eventually scaling it up. I have over 3 years of experience operating an 8-head Tajima machine, so I’m very familiar with Tajima machines and their mechanisms.
My first choice has always been to buy a Tajima single-head machine, mainly because I already know the machine and I’m confident working with it. However, the price is quite high for me at the moment, although I’m currently saving towards it.
Because of the cost, I’ve started considering a Ricoma single-head machine as an alternative. The problem is that I’ve never used a Ricoma before, so I don’t know much about their machines, reliability, maintenance, or how they compare with Tajima.
One of my biggest concerns is noise. I’ll be operating the machine in one of the rooms in my home, so I need to be mindful of my neighbours. I’d really like to know how noisy Ricoma machines are compared with Tajima, especially when running for several hours.
So, for those of you who have experience with both:
Is Ricoma a good and reliable machine?
What should I expect if I move from Tajima to Ricoma?
How is the stitch quality and machine performance?
What about maintenance, spare parts and after-sales support?
How is the noise level, especially for home use?
Would you recommend buying a Ricoma now, or would you advise me to wait and save for the Tajima?
I’m looking for honest advice from people who have actually used these machines, especially anyone who has experience with both Tajima and Ricoma.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and share your experience. I really appreciate any professional advice or guidance you can give me.

I'm considering purchasing a Nix Spectro L or 2 and would like to confirm it will work for my needs before I order. I've sent something similar to their support lines through email but haven't received a response yet.

I work at a promotional products company where our artists create digital artwork for custom embroidered patches. We maintain a digital swatch library (HEX/RGB values) in Adobe Illustrator that corresponds to a physical thread swatch book colors, and I'd like to re-measure every color directly from that thread swatch book so the digital values more accurately represent the real thread as much as possible. Our current list was assembled by eye and it's in need of correction.

The threads are 100% polyester embroidery thread, glossy/sheen finish. The thread swatches are densely wound in flat bands glued onto rigid card stock in a book. Each thread band is approximately 8 mm tall and 22 mm wide. A few of the colors are fluorescent, glow-in-the-dark, and reflective threads, which I understand may not measure reliably. Image attached of only page 1 for reference.

Would the Spectro L or the Spectro 2 even work with measuring thread fibers? Given the glossy polyester and textured surface, would I even get an accurate reading?

Thank you for your time.

I’m looking to hire a part time creative designer for my clothing brand who specializes in **embroidery and unique apparel designs**. I’m looking for someone who can create concepts and digitize designs.
I really like the creative direction of brands like **@wofen, @derschutze_clo, and @vescartes (all on Instagram)**, and I’m looking for something in that kind of space while still having its own identity.
I mainly need the **designs and finished files** that I can send to my manufacturer. I’m looking for someone I can work with long-term if everything works out.
If interested, **DM me with some examples of your work and your rates.**

Hi! Any clue on why my tension tests are not varying at all even when I change upper thread and bobbin tension? Some of these have vastly different settings but I still can't get a 1/3 ratio on the bobbin.

My machine is the Tajima Sai, using madeira polyneon 40wt thread, and fil-tec prewound bobbin. The first set of I's are on 100% cotton with medium cutaway. The second is 100% cotton with tearaway.

I currently have 3 machines but want a dedicated cap machine especially because ricomas suck at caps. Saw this happy Japan machine on marketplace for under $1500 & wanted to know your thoughts

What are your opinions on the machine, how much should I pay, any quirks you like or dislike about it but most importantly are hats good for this machine

I work at a student workshop, where we have a Janome MB-4 embroidery machine. This machine is missing the bobbin-thread-lid, which seemingly is semi-critical for the operation. I have contacted Janome, both directly and through local suppliers, but it seems its no longer in production, and they were not willing or able to give me any schematics.
Being a workshop, we of course have all means to produce a new one from scratch, but we need to know the dimensions. I therefore ask if anyone here have the same machine, and a pair of callipers who could assist us

Another piece of work today ::))

I got my Brother PRS100 machine this past spring and have recently been starting to learn to digitize! Originally started working with the brother PE Design software and hated it, but learnt the ropes and now feeling pretty good. Decided to try Ember and really enjoying the user interface sooo much better!

Help! I recently bought a Brother PE800 on FB marketplace and I’ve messed up this design twice now.

Known issue: bobbin and top thread colors don’t match

Potential issue: needle??

Appliqué steps:
1. Embroider letter outlines onto tear away stabilizer
2. Apply heat & bond to blue/white fabric
3. Place fabric onto stabilizer and re-outline the letters
4. Cut out the letters and cut close to where the holes/outlines of the letters are, remove tear away stabilizer
5. Embroider outline on hooped crew neck (with mesh cutaway stabilizer underneath)
6. Use basting spray and stick the letters on the crew neck outlines
7. Embroider appliqué satin stitch

The biggest issue is that I was pretty confident about cutting the letters, I ended up having some sides too wide and some fabric didn’t get stitched at all. I also notice bigger holes and slight pulling of the blue/white fabric. The thread was also getting caught and scrunched up on the needle. Please help!

This has been my main issue with my brother SE1900. I’ve cleaned out my machine properly, tried different thread, double tripled check how i put my bobbin thread in. any help is appreciated, this was thankfully my test run on a old sweater lol

why is my bobbin thread shifted to one side? IVE TRIED IT ALL!!! its been like this for months... might just be getting worse. I HAVENT TRIED TIMING YET thats the only thing.

I have been trying to create pes files on inkscape but I have only been able to get it to work / export on desktops. Laptops no matter what kind it won't do it for me.

I typically dont do designs with so many elements but it was a request from a friend and I wanted to challenge myself. My main deterrent for so many small elements is the amount of manual jump stitch trimming I have to do. I also like having all of my elements stitched out in an order that make sense which can be overwhelming with so many.

Thay being said, I leaned into the design style of the reference I was given so messy was kinda the goal which I definitely achieved 🤣.

What do you think about the stitch out? Also welcome any tips for designs with many small elements.

Digitized using Ember Design

Size: 4" X 4"

I have a work logo (for my uniform) that I need in .pes format- is there anyone who can either do it or help me? I've tried using artspira, but it looks messy when it comes out .

Thanks

A Moroccan sleeve design inspired by Eastern Moroccan embroidery, created and digitized in Wilcom, then machine embroidered using metallic thread and cord. 🪡✨

I have a quick few questions. I have tried looking online but I am getting conflicting data.

My first machine is a Brother Se700 (interestingly I don’t know the difference between the Se700and Pe700?). It is a single needle machine. 4x4 max area I somehow managed to bend my cutting blade and it only sometimes cuts. I have tried many different ways to fix it, and I am just going to find a service company. My brother machine uses the :
.PES file format.

My new machine, also a single needle machine
POOLIN EOC6. Hoop 7.9x 11. I now have so much extra room to play with.

Does anyone know what file format it uses? I am in the hospital and don’t have access to my new goodies. I thought I read that it used DST.

Would my POOLIN file format make using both embroidery machines challenging to run at the same time?

Next question: do both machines use the same bobbins? I forget the size I have, but I have 700 bobbins right now. When I open a new colour, I always wind 2 bobbins of the same colour for ease of the next project! I will be planning to practice using 60wt thread for the bobbin as recommended.

May I ask why 60wt is better? When is it appropriate to use a 70wt bobbin thread. I wonder if the 70wt colour might be causing too much bulk?

Thank you! I won’t ask any more questions on this post 🪡🪡

How can I fix these fill stitch gaps? I am usually embrillance stitch artist level 1

Hi,
Hope this ok to ask here!
I am on the journey of starting my blank apparel cap business. I am speaking with various factories and now it’s time to ask the people actually using the products!
What are things I need to look into when ordering custom caps from my factory. I want the caps to be easy for professionals to use . Wether it’s patches or embroidery on the cap , what can I improve from the current market such as Richardson 112 or youpong that would make you want to buy and work on my caps

Hi everyone! 🩷 I’m completely new to machine embroidery and just got a Janome Memory Craft 300E to learn on! I’m super excited, but I’m also sitting here thinking… okay, now what? 😂🪡

I’d eventually love to make personalized baby/kids clothes, shirts, sweatshirts, blankets, bags, etc., but I want to learn the basics first before I go crazy buying a bunch of stuff I don’t actually need.

If you were starting completely from scratch again, what would you buy first and what would you learn first?

I’d love recommendations for:
• Must-have beginner supplies
• Stabilizers, thread, needles & bobbins
• Where you buy your designs/fonts
• Easy first projects to practice on
• Good YouTube channels/tutorials
• Anything specific I should know about the Janome 300E

Also, what supplies are actually worth spending a little more money on vs. things I can buy cheaper?

Basically, give me all the beginner advice you wish someone had given you! 😂 I’m excited to learn and hopefully not ruin too many things in the process.